About Me

Hi, I’m Marty Palounek. Born and raised in Czech republic. Currently making my living in online advertising and the rest of my time composing music and playing gigs with my Heavy Metal Symphony band Falcar. Being a music fan heart and soul, I desire to become a professional and give music everything I have to offer. Years ago, I fell in love with film scores and wanted to be a film music composer ever since. I also had another dream – touring the world with a Heavy Metal band. So I decided to do both.

I compose orchestral scores, enter auditions for games and stuff on sites like Audiocatch and try to go beyond myself each time I finish a new piece. Sometimes there’s some petty cash but mostly I come back empty-handed. It’s like an RPG game – when you don’t get gold, you gain experience. And that’s exactly what I need at this very moment.

Most of my work as a composer has been done for my band Falcar – an act combining heavy metal and orchestral scores. As my friend (and a great Czech music producer) Martin Ledvina once said, I couldn’t have possibly made it more difficult for myself. And he was right – it’s difficult to properly balance all the various instruments and sections of the orchestra with the Heavy Metal base of twin guitars, drums and mighty bass. But I love the final sound and welcome the challenge despite the struggle. To make things even harder I ended up being the band’s lead singer and guitarist. But for some reason I keep holding on and I enjoy my journey more than ever.

We recently published a debut single “The Metal Crusade ” and thanks to years of playing gigs live I already have all the orchestral tracks road-tested and ready for the recording of our first album, which will be recorded and published next year.

The single is also on my Soundcloud.

Apart from composing, I sometimes do some recording, editing, mixing or mastering, mostly for projects my friends are involved in. Different kind of experience, but valuable indeed.
As for the music education, you might be surprised that I don’t have any kind of music degree. As a kid, I spent several years studying at local music school and I also took some private classes, but I think that years of playing several instrument and composing on my own had the most beneficial impact on my current skills. I was also lucky, because almost everything I’ve ever done has been somewhat connected to music. I started working as a roadie and then I was a music journalist for a while. I spent my college years working with Prague Philharmonic Orchestra as an assistant of the conductor Friedemann Riehle. After finishing school I decided to enter the big business of online advertising, make some serious money and start looking for ways to make my dreams come true.

If you wish to contact me to just hang out or help me achieve my goals, let me know at marty@falcar.net